IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jmgtco/v26y2015i2p157-191.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The optimality of full-cost pricing: a simulation analysis of the price-adjustment dynamics

Author

Listed:
  • Graziano Coller
  • Paolo Collini

Abstract

Full-cost pricing is a widespread practice despite its lack of theoretical support as a profit-maximizing procedure. Previous research on the optimality of full-cost pricing (i.e., its ability to provide profit-maximizing prices) has produced contrasting results. In this paper we discuss the optimality of full-cost pricing through a numerical experiment controlling two factors that may explain some of the inconsistencies in previous studies: the dynamics of the pricing mechanisms and the level of demand variability. We show that, while with static demand full-cost pricing entails virtually no economic loss, the introduction of demand variability means that economic loss increases with variability. The worsening effect on performances of a trend in demand is also discussed. Finally, tactical and list pricing are compared in their ability to cope with frequent demand changes; the results show that the ability of full-cost pricing in driving pricing toward optimal decision is not confirmed when the issue of continuous adjustments to demand is considered. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Graziano Coller & Paolo Collini, 2015. "The optimality of full-cost pricing: a simulation analysis of the price-adjustment dynamics," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 157-191, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jmgtco:v:26:y:2015:i:2:p:157-191
    DOI: 10.1007/s00187-015-0212-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s00187-015-0212-3
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00187-015-0212-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephan Leitner, 2014. "A simulation analysis of interactions among intended biases in costing systems and their effects on the accuracy of decision-influencing information," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 22(1), pages 113-138, March.
    2. John Brierley & Christopher Cowton & Colin Drury, 2001. "Research into product costing practice: a European perspective," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 215-256.
    3. Erkki K. Laitinen, 2009. "From complexities to the rules of thumb: towards optimisation in pricing decisions," International Journal of Applied Management Science, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 1(4), pages 340-366.
    4. Mas-Colell, Andreu & Whinston, Michael D. & Green, Jerry R., 1995. "Microeconomic Theory," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195102680.
    5. R. L. Hall & C. J. Hitch, 1939. "Price Theory And Business Behaviour," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 0(1), pages 12-45.
    6. M. N. Ahmed & R. W. Scapens, 2000. "Cost allocation in Britain: towards an institutional analysis," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 159-204.
    7. Paul Downward, 1999. "Pricing Theory in Post Keynesian Economics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1457.
    8. Sylvia Hsingwen Hsu, 2011. "Cost Information and Pricing: Empirical Evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 554-579, June.
    9. Lucas, Michael & Rafferty, James, 2008. "Cost analysis for pricing: Exploring the gap between theory and practice," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 148-160.
    10. E. Labro & M. Vanhoucke, 2005. "A simulation analysis of interactions between errors in costing system design," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 05/333, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Graziano Coller, 2018. "L?eterno divario tra teoria e prassi del pricing nel Management Accounting," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(2), pages 11-33.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Graziano Coller, 2018. "L?eterno divario tra teoria e prassi del pricing nel Management Accounting," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(2), pages 11-33.
    2. C. Homburg & Julia Nasev & Philipp Plank, 2018. "The impact of cost allocation errors on price and product-mix decisions," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 497-527, August.
    3. Sina Hocke & Matthias Meyer & Iris Lorscheid, 2015. "Improving simulation model analysis and communication via design of experiment principles: an example from the simulation-based design of cost accounting systems," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 131-155, August.
    4. Annina Kaltenbrunner, 2018. "Financialised internationalisation and structural hierarchies: a mixed-method study of exchange rate determination in emerging economies," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 42(5), pages 1315-1341.
    5. Friederike Wall, 2016. "Agent-based modeling in managerial science: an illustrative survey and study," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 135-193, January.
    6. Brendan Markey-Towler, 2016. "Law of the jungle: firm survival and price dynamics in evolutionary markets," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 655-696, July.
    7. Stephan Leitner & Friederike Wall, 2015. "Simulation-based research in management accounting and control: an illustrative overview," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 105-129, August.
    8. Wright, Austin L. & Sonin, Konstantin & Driscoll, Jesse & Wilson, Jarnickae, 2020. "Poverty and economic dislocation reduce compliance with COVID-19 shelter-in-place protocols," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 544-554.
    9. Jolian McHardy & Michael Reynolds & Stephen Trotter, 2012. "The Stackelberg Model as a Partial Solution to the Problem of Pricing in a Network," Working Paper series 19_12, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    10. Janvier D. Nkurunziza, 2005. "Reputation and Credit without Collateral in Africa`s Formal Banking," Economics Series Working Papers WPS/2005-02, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    11. Stephanie Rosenkranz & Patrick W. Schmitz, 2007. "Can Coasean Bargaining Justify Pigouvian Taxation?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(296), pages 573-585, November.
    12. Vadim Borokhov, 2014. "On the properties of nodal price response matrix in electricity markets," Papers 1404.3678, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2015.
    13. Daniel Sutter & Daniel J. Smith, 2017. "Coordination in disaster: Nonprice learning and the allocation of resources after natural disasters," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 30(4), pages 469-492, December.
    14. Hanming Fang & Peter Norman, 2014. "Toward an efficiency rationale for the public provision of private goods," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 56(2), pages 375-408, June.
    15. Gan, Li & Ju, Gaosheng & Zhu, Xi, 2015. "Nonparametric estimation of structural labor supply and exact welfare change under nonconvex piecewise-linear budget sets," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 188(2), pages 526-544.
    16. Peterson, Jeffrey M. & Boisvert, Richard N. & de Gorter, Harry, 1999. "Multifunctionality and Optimal Environmental Policies for Agriculture in an Open Economy," Working Papers 127701, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    17. Tian, Guoqiang, 2009. "Implementation of Pareto efficient allocations," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(1-2), pages 113-123, January.
    18. Ahmad Naimzada & Marina Pireddu, 2019. "The first fundamental theorem of welfare in a general equilibrium evolutionary setting," Working Papers 415, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised 06 Jun 2019.
    19. Gajanan Panchal & Vipul Jain & Naoufel Cheikhrouhou & Matthias Gurtner, 2017. "Equilibrium analysis in multi-echelon supply chain with multi-dimensional utilities of inertial players," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 16(4), pages 417-436, August.
    20. Aldasoro, Iñaki & Delli Gatti, Domenico & Faia, Ester, 2017. "Bank networks: Contagion, systemic risk and prudential policy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 164-188.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Simulations; Full-cost; Pricing;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jmgtco:v:26:y:2015:i:2:p:157-191. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.